Career Summary

Biography

Since commencing my PhD research into race relations in Kempsey, New South Wales in 1980, I have been spent over three to four years fieldwork research in the region. The successful completion of the doctoral research resulted in a PhD, which was published by Berg Press, and numerous articles. Subsequently I have been asked to undertaken numerous local consultancy research projects on the mid-north coast. This has involved working for the National Parks and Wildlife Service, Public Works Department, New South Wales Aboriginal Land Council and the New South Wales Native Title Service. The studies has involved research in to two major Connection Reports for Native Title Claims (Crescent Head and Gumma) and Six summary reports on the viability of local regional claims. Over the past twenty seven years, I have contributed years of research into indigenous issues and race relations in Australia. This work led the way in making anthropology relevant to the analysis of contemporary conditions in Australia. It represented a departure from an anthropology confined to examining one cultural arena, replacing it with analysis of the dynamics between state structures and cultural processes. I have produced a significant corpus of refereed articles in leading journals, (such as Canberra Anthropology, Oceania, Social Analysis, Critique of Anthropology). In the early 1990s I conducted research, in collaboration with Dr Thomas Ernst and Dr Kerry Zubrinich, into the trial of the defendants in the `Brewarrina Riot'. The fieldwork involved attending the trial, which was held over the period from the 25th March to the 17th April. The 'Brewarrina riot' has become the focal point of a number of issues in relation to Aborigines and the police, which provided a significant focus of the research. In 1994, I was invited to an international conference, Tribal Minorities and the State Conference, sponsored by Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, in Istanbul, Turkey, to present a paper on the riot trial. I have subsequently published a series of articles on a number of issues associated with the social dynamics and cultural processes associated with the Brewarrina riot. The recent work on the Hanson phenomenon is concerned with the way that egalitarianism and nationalist politics have consolidated themselves as an opposition to policies of affirmative action. My approach throughout my research career has developed out of a demand that we explore the cultural logic that has informed exclusionary practices in Australia rather than more liberal approaches couched in more universal expressions of social or civil rights and, more recently, human rights. My co-editing of Expert Knowledge: First World Peoples, Consultancy, and Anthropology, developed from being invited to Bergen University, Norway as a Visiting Professor in 2002. The book sought to develop an international perspective by inviting an international body of anthropologists from Brazil, South America, South Africa, Canada, Australia and United States to contribute to the issues associated with the role of anthropologists in the growth of the role of consultancy research as expert knowledge. My contribution has been to increase international interest and advance theoretical concerns of the interplay between localised and national expressions and practices of social exclusion and social inclusion. I am a Research Associate of the Wollongong-Newcastle Centre for Asia Pacific Social Transformation Studies (CAPSTRANS). In recent years I have worked to widen CAPSTRANS research foci to include projects that analyse regional Australian issues in the context of wider Asia-Pacific social transformations. I also enjoyed making a contribution to the discipline of Anthropology at a national level as Vice-President of the Australian Anthropology Society (2003-2006). I was invited to participate in a panel session at the American Anthropological Society Conference, New Orleans (2002).

Research ExpertiseI have made a significant contribution to the field of social and cultural anthropology through fieldwork based research. This research has involved both academic research projects and consultancy research that have both involved fieldwork research. My PhD research, involved 15 months ethnographic fieldwork in Kempsey, N.S.W., and 12 months archival research at the Mitchell Library, State Archives, Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies and Museum Library (NSW). A number of articles were published through out the 1980s and the research was finally published as a book, Domesticating Resistance (Berg Press). In 1991 I conducted courtroom ethnographic research on the Brewarrina riot trial with Dr Thomas Ernst and Dr Kerry Zubrinich. The research has produced a number of publications in both national and international journals. I co-edited the successful book, Race Matters (1997) (Aboriginal Studies Press) with Dr Gillian Cowlishaw. Much of my consultancy research has involved producing connection reports and summary reports for native title claims (1995- 2002). I was invited to co-edit a book with Dr Rohan Bastin, Expert Knowledges: First World Peoples, Consultancy, and Anthropology (Berghahn Press), which included critical analyses of anthropology and consultancy from a global perspective in Brazil, USA, Canada, South Africa and the former Yugoslavia. My consultancy research has involved ethnographic fieldwork in a consideration of indigenous peoples mythologised meanings of landscape. I have published connection reports, including the first successful mainland decision regarding the Dhan-gadi Native Title claim at Crescent Head (1995). The research was commissioned by the NSW Aboriginal Land Council Native Title Unit and, more recently, the NSW Native Title Services Ltd. This was followed by a connection report of the Gumbaingirr people at Gumma in Nambucca Heads, NSW and a number of summary reports in the region between 1977 and 2004. I have become familiar with fieldwork-based interview research especially in relation to landscapes and their meaning. I am a Research Associate of the Wollongong-Newcastle Centre for Asia Pacific Social Transformation Studies (CAPSTRANS). In recent years I have worked to widen CAPSTRANS research foci to include projects that analyse regional Australian issues in the context of wider Asia-Pacific social transformations. I also enjoyed making a contribution to the discipline of Anthropology at a national level as Vice-President of the Australian Anthropology Society (2003-2006). I was invited to participate in a panel session at the American Anthropological Society Conference, New Orleans (2002) [I am a Research Associate of the Wollongong-Newcastle Centre for Asia Pacific Social Transformation Studies (CAPSTRANS). In recent years I have worked to widen CAPSTRANS research foci to include projects that analyse regional Australian issues in the context of wider Asia-Pacific social transformations. I also enjoyed making a contribution to the discipline of Anthropology at a national level as Vice-President of the Australian Anthropology Society (2003-2006). I was invited to participate in a panel session at the American Anthropological Society Conference, New Orleans (2002) on race relations in Australia.

Teaching ExpertiseSince 1983, I have tutored and lectured in anthropology in Departments and Schools at Adelaide University, Charles Sturt University and Newcastle University. I was employed as a tutor at Adelaide University (1983-1986) before moving to a full-time lectureship in the School of Social Science and Welfare Studies at Charles Sturt University (1987-1991) and then to Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Newcastle University (1992-2004). I was promoted to a Senior Lecturer in 1995. Whilst at Newcastle, I took up a position as senior staff member on newly established Ourimbah Campus, School of Humanities, in 1997 before transferring back to Callaghan Campus, School of Social Sciences, in 2002. At Callaghan, IAndrew Lattas and myself have established new offerings in anthropology in the School to be jointly taught. The new course electives have been a significant success, attracting significant student numbers. I have taught in a number of courses teaching in social and cultural anthropology. I have demonstrated a capacity to teach and co-ordinate courses with large student numbers and delivering mass lectures as well as to smaller groups associated with more specialised teaching in electives. At Charles Sturt University and Newcastle University, I co-lectured in the large first year courses. At Newcastle, I co-lectured and co-ordinated SOCA1020 Introduction to Social & Cultural Anthropology at the Callaghan Campus and then at Ourimbah Campus every year, except one, since I was appointed there. I also was in charge of establishing, organising and co-ordinating the new multi-disciplinary strand at Ourimbah, Societies and Cultures, and co-ordinating and lecturing in the introductory course, HUMA1160 Foundations of Society and Culture.

Administrative ExpertiseMy administrative expertise has been directed towards research and teaching. After the major structural changes iundertaken by the university, much of my administrative duties have been directed towards new course development and co-ordination of electives and major first year courses. In research, I have continued with my interest in post graduate programs, with my involvement in the now defunct School Research Committee and as Post-Graduate Seminar co-ordinator. I have set up and run, with Professor Lyndall Ryan, the Double Edged Coference at Ourimbah Campus. I have also developed my administrative research skills in running, co-ordinating and completing four major consultancy research projects involved in the development of Summary and Connection Reports associated with Native Title Claims in New South Wales.

CollaborationsCentre for Asia Pacific Social Transformation Studies - ANZAC Nationalism and secular pilgrimages The principal focus of this project is a revitalised ANZAC nationalism, its historical values and meanings. The ethnography focuses on the contemporary meanings expressed by those who participate in the organised tours to a number of war memorial sites in the Asia-Pacific region and Europe. The force of nationalist sensibility requires a cultural understanding of the relationship between nationalist beginnings, commemorative rites, and the role of war in Australia's relationship with Asia-Pacific and Europe. This project seeks to understand this important dimension of Australian nationalism. The project will strengthen the understanding of Australias historical connections with its Asia-Pacific region and Europe. Centre for Asia Pacific Social Transformation Studies - Indigenous Affairs in the Enabling State In this research, I am concerned with the broader process of major change in forms of state governance. These changes in polity reveal new forms of governance that redefine the social and regulatory functions of the state and the relations of citizens to the state. The abolition of ATSIC, the removal of CDEP and more recently, the Northen Territory intervention, signals more than punitive forms of state intervention. Such shifts would appear to reveal major changes from the Keynesian styled welfare state to market driven neo-liberal forms of governance. The research I am interested in would be in carrying out fieldwoprk research to consider the impacts of these new policies and there implementation in one or more regional communities.

Qualifications

PhD (Anthropology), University of Sydney

Bachelor of Arts (Honours), Macquarie University

Bachelor of Arts (Anthropology and Sociology), Macquarie University

Keywords

Anthropological research

Australian nationalist myths and symbols

Comparative politics of Indigenous rights and race relations

Contemporary Australian Society

Indigenous rights and race relations

Social and Cultural Anthropology

Social and cultural change in Indigenous Australian society

Social change

Social theory

Urban studies

Fields of Research

Code

Description

Percentage

160199

Anthropology not elsewhere classified

35

160899

Sociology not elsewhere classified

35

169999

Studies in Human Society not elsewhere classified

30

Professional Experience

UON Appointment

Title

Organisation / Department

Academic appointment

Dates

Title

Organisation / Department

1/09/2004 - 1/01/2007

Vice President

Australian Anthropology SocietyAustralia

1/06/1983 - 1/06/1986

Lecturer

The University of AdelaideAnthropologyAustralia

1/01/1982 - 1/01/1987

Lecturer

Charles Sturt UniversityAnthropology and Sociology

Membership

Dates

Title

Organisation / Department

Member - Australian Anthropology Society

Australian Anthropology SocietyAustralia

Member - International Working Group for Indigenous Affairs

International Working Group for Indigenous AffairsAustralia

Member - Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies

Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS)Australia

Awards

Recognition

Year

Award

2004

Native Title ResearchNSW Native Title Services Ltd

Invitations

Participant

Year

Title / Rationale

2005

Australian Dictionary of Biography Organisation: Melbourne University Press.
Description:
I was invited by the Australian Dictionary of Biography (Supplementary Volume), on significant Indigenous identity John Moseley (c. 1850-1938) Melbourne: Melbourne University Press.

2002

Visiting ResearcherOrganisation: Bergen University
Description:
2002 and 2005 A research visitor, in the Anthropology Department at Bergen University, Norway, at the invitation of Professor Bruce Kapferer. The project aimed to develop an analysis of the contemporary manifestations of egalitarianism in Australian politics, and provides a foundation for the current ethnographic research proposal.

Kapferer B, Morris BJ, 'The Australian society of the state: Egalitarian ideologies and new directions in exclusionary practice', Legends of People Myths of State: Violence, Intolerance, and Political Culture in Sri Lanka, Berghahn Books, Washington, DC 363-393 (2012) [B2]

2010

Lattas A, Morris BJ, 'The politics of suffering and the politics of anthropology', Culture Crisis: Anthropology and Politics in Aboriginal Australia, University of New South Wales Press, Sydney 61-87 (2010) [B1]

2006

Kapferer B, Morris BJ, 'Nationalism and Neo-populism in Australia : Hansonism and the politics of the New Right in Australia', Neo-Nationalism in Europe and Beyond: Perspectives from Social Anthropology, Berghahn Books, New York 248-270 (2006) [B1]

Teaching an Indigenous Sociology: A Response to Current Debate Within Australian SociologyIndigenous Studies, Faculty of Education and ArtsSole Supervisor

2006

Post Indigenous Rights - the political rationalities and technologies governing Federal Indigenous affairs in Australia in the contemporary periodStudies In Human Society, Faculty of Education and ArtsSole Supervisor

2000

Recovery and Restoration: changing identities of Aboriginal Women in AustraliaAnthropology, University of NewcastleSole Supervisor

1997

Cultivating Connections: kinship, land and labour strategies in Minangkabau village Anthropology, University of NewcastleCo-Supervisor